Finally, Bruins get cooking at home

Wednesday

Feb 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 27, 2008 at 10:17 AM

Glen Farley

Shawn Thornton buried one shot. He called another.

“Awesome,” Thornton said after his career-high third goal of the season and the first goal of rookie David Krejci’s career sparked the Boston Bruins to a 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators at the TD Banknorth Garden. “Right after I scored, actually, we were sitting beside each other on the bench and I said, ‘You’ve got yours tonight, too,’ and I think two shifts later, he got it.

“It’s always awesome when you get to see a kid get his first NHL goal. It’s one of the most exciting times of your life. You dream about it as a kid, right? So it’s good for him.”

Good for him, perhaps even better for the team, which got a true top-to-bottom effort Tuesday night in winning its fourth straight game, but its first at home in nearly a month.

Since taking a 3-1 decision from Nashville back on Jan. 29, the B’s had lost four straight at the Garden.

“To tell you the truth, I think all four lines did a great job,” said Thornton. “Every line was rolling, one after the other. It’s a lot easier to play a game when all 20 guys are going.”

The tone in this one was set on the opening shift when the head coach rolled out his fourth line: Vladimir Sobotka, Jeremy Reich and Thornton.

“They were good,” Claude Julien said. “They were dominant.”

Feeding off some strong forechecking, Thornton slipped a backhander past Ottawa goaltender Martin Gerber from the slot at 5:24 for just his seventh goal in 117 NHL games.

A little less than 12 minutes later, Krejci, who only skated 13 shifts in the game, converted following a Senators giveaway in the neutral zone.

While the 21-year-old from the Czech Republic scored a shootout goal in the Bruins’ 3-2 win at Carolina the previous Tuesday night, this will go down as his first NHL goal since shootout tallies don’t count in individual statistics.

The goal came in Krejci’s 36th game with Boston this season, but who was counting?

Krejci, for one.

“I’ve had chances about 35 games before, but it finally went in,” said Krejci. “It was kind of a sense of relief. Like I said, I played 35 games with zero goals. I had chances and just missed. (Tonight) it worked out.

“After Thornton scored, he said he had a good feeling I was going to get one. Then I did. It was funny.”

It certainly put a smile on Julien’s face.

“It was nice to see him get his first real goal that’s going to count on the stat sheet,” said Julien. “I think he’s getting his confidence back, knowing he can produce at this level. I think he’s a pretty gifted player, (but) when you’ve got that goose egg this late in the season it can be disturbing.”

Two special teams goals by defenseman Zdeno Chara — a power-play score at 2:15 of the second period and a shorthanded shot into an empty net with 1:27 to play — closed out the scoring as Tim Thomas turned aside 22 Ottawa shots to record his second shutout of the season.

“It was a good team effort from the beginning of the game,” said Chara, whose goals were his 13th and 14th of the season.

As for the goaltender, there was no doubting Thomas in this one as he benefited from a solid effort in front of him and was sharp when he needed to be.

Thomas’ best stop came on an Ottawa power play midway through the second period when he made a glove save to deny Senators’ sharpshooter Daniel Alfredsson’s bid for his 36th goal of the season on a one-timer.

“I know that my glove was over by the post right as he was shooting,” said Thomas. “I was thinking of two things at once – catch the puck and catch it in front of the line.

“I think, at one point, my glove was probably behind the line, but not when I made the save. I’d have to see the replay.”

The officials did — no goal.

The Senators, who mustered only 10 shots on goal over the final two periods, had no chance.

The win pulled Boston to within six points of the Northeast Division leaders, with the Bruins holding two games in hand on Ottawa.

Boston continues a hot streak that saw the Bruins take nine of a possible 10 points on a recent road trek that concluded in Florida with wins over the Panthers and Tampa Bay.

“We put 60 minutes together, but we were taking just 20 at a time,” said Chara. “That was important for us. We were focusing on the first five and 10 minutes, then finishing every period.”

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